BYLINE - (is) identification of an author, generally below the title or headline in a magazine or newspaper; the line that starts with "By"
COMMUNICATION - (1) (is) the transmission or exchange of information, signals, messages, or data by any means, such as talk (verbal communication), writing (written communication), person-to-person (personal communication), or via telephone, telegraph, radio, or other channels, within a group or directed to specific individuals or groups. The term is often used in the plural. A communicator may send and receive such messages by talking, writing or gesturing. (2) (is) the conveying of thought from one party or group to another. (3) (is) the planned and measured management process to help organizations achieve their goals using the written and spoken word. Communication skills involve the art of transmitting information, signals, or messages by talk, gestures, writing, or other means from one medium (person, device, or point) to another.
COVER STORY - (is) an article featured on the cover of a magazine or other publication, generally the major article in the issue. With the development of magazine-style TV programs, many print terms have come into use by broadcasters; thus cover story also denotes a major feature or sequence on a TV program.
FEATURE - (is) an article or broadcast that is lighter or more general, about human interest or lifestyles, than the hard news resulting from current events. Similarly, a feature photo is of human interest; its features include columns, comics, and other materials that is not hard news. In merchandising, a feature is an important characteristic of a product or service or an item receiving special promotion or pricing. To feature is to give prominent display or promotion or to emphasize a specific aspect of a story.
HARD NEWS - (are) reports of events of timeliness and/or importance Hard-hard news is an objective, behind-the-scenes article (not a commentary) about a news event - how and why it happened, who made it happen, and other reportorial details. A hard-news-story set generally has the newspersons, or anchors, at a desk; a soft-news-show set - such as the magazine-style daytime programs - often has a couch or other furniture suggesting a living room.
HUMAN INTEREST (H.I.)- (is) a feature about a personality, a story with colorful details and emotional appeal; any work that is not strictly hard news.
NEWS - (is) fresh information. Hard news refers to reporting of current events, whereas soft news is more likely to be human-interest features or less current or less urgent news. A news feature is an elaboration on a news report. The news department of a radio or TV station or network, headed by a news director, prepares and/or broadcasts news reports. At a newspaper, news is handled by several desks, or departments, such as business news, local news, and national news, that cumulatively may be called the news department, as differentiated from the advertising, circulation, and production departments. The news department often is located in a large open area called the newsroom. Old news or stale news may have originated a few hours or a few days ago, depending on subsequent events.
NEWSLETTER - (is) a bulletin or other informational publication, generally without advertising and for individual members or members of a group.
NOTICE - (is) a formal announcement or warning, such as a sign or legal notice published as an advertisement; a brief mention or review of a book, play, or other work of art.
PRESS ALERT - (is) a letter, newswire, telegram, telephone call, or other means of advising the media of a forthcoming event or other activity that may be of interest; also called press advisory. The alert may sometimes be considered a press invitation - that is, a request that the media attend or cover a forthcoming event.
PRESS CONFERENCE - (is) a meeting to acquaint the media with news or other information. Some organizations prefer the term news conference, partly because it suggests a more direct focus on news events and partly because press conceivably refers only to the print media and thus excludes the broadcast media. Nevertheless, broadcast, or electronic, journalists still seem to accept the term press conference.
PRESS KIT - (is) a collection of materials provided by an outside source - such as a public relations practitioner - to the media. The kit, which contains information and sometimes promotional material (to enhance the image of the subject), is intended to provide print and electronic media with background details to be used in articles or programs. Press kits may be distributed by organizations - for instance, an environmental group seeking to publicize an issue - or by performers, political candidates, and other individuals, companies, and groups. Sometimes the kit is enclosed in a cover or portfolio, referred to as a press kit cover.
PRESS RELEASE - (is) a suggested article, the most commonly used means of communication between public relations practitioners and the media, generally consisting of a page or more, written in the form of a news or feature article; also called news release. The copy is sometimes referred to by media people, perhaps deprecatingly, as a hand-out, reflecting the process of distributing the press release. The format of the presss release may vary, but generally the source appears in the upper-left corner; various other conventions, such as double-spacing, have become useful to the media (editors or reporters can make revisions directly on the news release copy). Press releases sometimes may be used almost intact, perhaps with minor changes, as the basis of an article or feature, or some of the material in them may be incorporated in an article written by someone else.
PUBLICITY - (is) a public relations technique in which information from an outside source - usually a public relations practitioner - is used by the media. A message is developed and distributed, without specific payment to the media, through selected outlets (magazines, TV, and so on) to further the particular interests of the clients.
PUBLIC RELATIONS (PR or P.R.) - (are) the activities and attitudes intended to analyze, adjust to, influence, and direct the opinion of any group or groups of persons in the interest of any individual, group, or institution. Though many people work in public relations agencies (companies or firms exclusively devoted to the development of public relations activities in behalf of clients), the largest number work in government agencies, companies, and organizations. In its broadest sense, public relations includes advertising and all forms of communication. In a narrower conception, however, the field generally excludes advertising except for institutional, or good-will, advertising or other targeted advertising. The field is categorized by the publics to which appeals are made to accept, support, or purchase certain public policy decisions, political candidates, or products and services, such as community relations, employee relations, financial relations, legislative relations, and "general-public" relations. Ideally and in its broadest sense, public relations helps an organization and its publics to adapt mutually and/or to achieve the cooperation of groups of people. Public relations practitioners conceive and execute programs designed to achieve objectives related to specific groups (publics), goals, and strategies, utilizing publicity and other communication techniques. An organization with good public relations has a favorable image or reputation, perhaps as a result of public relations activities.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (P.S.A.) - (is) a message, usually broadcast free by radio and TV stations. The announcements usually are provided by government agencies and nonprofit organizations and are considered to be in the public interest. In recent years, some public relations practitioners have developed creative techniques for distributing PSAs in behalf of commercial clients, such as by linking them with nonprofit organizations or public service issues.
PULL QUOTE or PULLQUOTE - (is) a quotation that is taken, or pulled, from the text - generally of a newspaper or magazine article - and set off, or displayed as a blurb or insert, perhaps surrounded by ruled lines (a pull quote box).
REPORT - (is) an account, such as a news report or reportage by a reporter. Reportorial is an objective, factual writing style, rather than subjective, interpretive criticism or commentary. Reportage is anything that is reported or the overall body of reported materials. One day's copy sent by a wire service to a subscriber is called a report.
SERVICE ARTICLE - (is) an article in a newspaper or other publication about a product or activity with information designed to be useful - of service - to the reader
SOFT NEWS - (are) feature articles and other journalistic material that is not urgent and not necessarily time-specific or related to a major event (hard news) also called soft copy, which also refers to a visual display or presentation of text on a video display terminal - transient images as distinguished from the permanent printed text (hard copy) from a computer.
Source: R. Weiner. (1990) Webster's New World dictionary of media and communications New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Copyright © Barbara Lavoie, 2001